NASA Identifying Candidate Asteroids For Redirect Mission

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NASA Headquarters

NASA is on the hunt to add potential candidate target asteroids for the agencys Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM). The robotic mission will identify, capture and redirect a near-Earth asteroid to a stable orbit around the moon. In the 2020s, astronauts will explore the asteroid and return to Earth with samples. This will test and advance new technologies and spaceflight experience needed to take humans to Mars in the 2030s.

NASA has two options for robotic asteroid capture. One concept would capture a small asteroid in its native orbit the natural orbit in which it is found. The other would retrieve a boulder from a larger asteroid. NASA will decide between the capture options in December and hold a Mission Concept Review in early 2015, which will further refine the design of the mission.

A lean, agile team of NASA engineers are testing the two concepts, capitalizing on technology and engineering work already underway at NASA. Four industry teams selected through NASAs recent Broad Agency Announcement also are developing concepts to either enhance this work or provide alternative ideas.

NASAs plans to announce the target asteroid for the mission approximately a year before launching the robotic spacecraft, scheduled for no earlier than 2019. To date NASA has identified three valid candidates for the small asteroid concept and three for the boulder concept. The agency expects to identify one or two additional candidates each year that could become valid targets for the mission.

Before an asteroid can make the valid candidate list, NASAs ARM target identification criteria must be met. Scientists must determine the rotation, shape, precise orbit, spectral class, and most importantly, size of the asteroid itself. With the asteroid millions of miles away from Earth, defining these factors requires a series of observations and analysis.

Telescopes on Earth and in space contribute to the observation, tracking and characterization of an asteroid. The process begins by detecting Near Earth Objects (NEOs) and starting to track their orbits. Ground observatories first scan an area in the sky to detect an object moving across the background of stationary stars and report its position in relation to them. The International Astronomical Union Minor Planet Center collects the resulting data and determines if the object has already been identified. If classified as a new object, scientists will be able to have a rough orbit and estimate of the size of the object within a day or two of the initial discovery.

Detecting an asteroid isnt enough to conclude it could be a good candidate for NASAs asteroid mission. Scientists need to further understand an asteroids shape, size, spin rate, and even surface features when picking a candidate. The best way to precisely measure these characteristics is with interplanetary radar, but only if the object is close enough to Earth to be observed this way. When the asteroid is not within the range of radar, the NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope can contribute to the data collection using infrared imaging if the object can be seen by it.

Infrared light is a better indicator of an objects true size because by measuring its infrared glow the amount of solar heating the entire object re-radiates can be determined. Combining the data collected by Spitzer and ground observatories allows an asteroids density and mass to be more precisely estimated. Spitzers infrared imaging has enabled NASA to determine the size of two ARM candidates thus far.

The three valid candidates so far for the small asteroid concept are 2009 BD, 2011 MD and 2013 EC20. The size of 2009 BD is estimated to be roughly 4 meters (13 feet) in size, while 2011 MD is estimated to be approximately 6 meters (20 feet). These sizes are inferred by data provided by the Spitzer observatory. 2013 EC20 is about 2 meters (7 feet) in size, as determined by radar imaging.

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NASA Identifying Candidate Asteroids For Redirect Mission

NASA to Send 3-D Printer to Space

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The machine is expected to let astronauts create parts to order

Engineers test a 3D printer under microgravity conditions aboard a modified aircraft in parabolic flight. Credit: Made In Space

In one small step towards space manufacturing, NASA is sending a 3Dprinter to the International Space Station. Astronauts will be able to make plastic objects of almost any shape they like inside a box about the size of a microwave oven enabling them to print new parts to replace broken ones, and perhaps even to invent useful tools.

The launch, slated for around September 19, will be the first time that a 3D printer flies in space. The agency has already embraced ground-based 3D printing as a fast, cheap way to make spacecraft parts, including rocket engine components that are being tested for its next generation of heavy-lift launch vehicles. NASA hopes that the new capability will allow future explorers to make spacecraft parts literally on the fly.

Space experts say that the promise of 3Dprinting is real, but a long way from the hype that surrounds it. Theres been a tendency among the space-enthusiast crowd to treat 3Dprinting as if its a magic technology as if all you have to do is wave your wand, say Abracadabra, heres a 3D printer, and its going to build you a Moon base, says Dwayne Day, a senior programme officer at the National Research Council in WashingtonDC who oversaw a recent report on 3D printing in space (see go.nature.com/j6z5mq). In reality, Day says, the technique is an important component of a much broader technology base that is being developed and advanced.

The printer selected by NASA was built by the company Made in Space, which is based at a technology park next to NASAs Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. During the printers sojourn on the space station, it will create objects from a heat-sensitive plastic that can be shaped when it reaches temperatures of about 225250C. The team is keeping quiet about what type of object it plans to print first, but the general idea is to fashion tools for use aboard the station. If you have 300different things that could break on your spacecraft, you may not need to carry replacement parts for all 300of them, says Day.

The Made in Space printer is also a testbed for performance of the technology in near-zero gravity. The machines work by spraying individual layers of a material that build up to form a complete, 3D object. But in near-weightless environments, there is no gravitational pull to hold the material down.

In test flights aboard vomit comet aircraft that fly in a parabola to create almost weightless conditions, Made in Space discovered that the layers of printed material varied substantially in thickness as the aeroplane cycled in and out of microgravity. By modifying the printer, the team got the layers to come out at roughly the same thickness.

Thermal issues could also be a problem. Heat flows differently in microgravity, which could mean that parts of the plastic become too hot or too cool for the printing to work properly. Whether it works fantastically or we have some issues, were going to learn things that will play into the design of future machines, says Michael Snyder, the companys director of research and development.

Made in Space is looking at flying a second printer to the space station next year, incorporating design changes from what is learned during the first flight. To evaluate the printers performance, parts made aboard the space station this time will be flown back to Earth and tested to see whether they work as well as Earth-made materials do. There is little point in manufacturing parts in space if they do not work at least as well as spares that an astronaut might grab from a storage locker, Day notes. Time is also an issue: Made in Spaces prints typically take between 20 minutes and two hours, which might not be useful, depending on the urgency of the situation.

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NASA to Send 3-D Printer to Space

NASA craft closes in on its target — Mars

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NASA's MAVEN spacecraft is less than two weeks away from wrapping up a 10-month journey to Mars' orbit.

NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft is less than two weeks away from wrapping up a 10-month journey to Mars' orbit, from where it will study the planet's atmosphere and shed more light on its history.

The craft was launched by NASA from Cape Canaveral last November. It's set to to enter Mars' orbit, on schedule, Sept. 21. The interplanetary journey took MAVEN over 442 million miles.

"We're the first mission devoted to observing the upper atmosphere of Mars and how it interacts with the sun and the solar wind," said Bruce Jakosky, principal investigator for MAVEN at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

MAVEN is loaded with scientific instruments designed to help scientists find out what happened to the planet's atmosphere and the water that flowed there long ago. With each orbit, the instruments will measure the composition, structure and escape of atmospheric gases.

"MAVEN's orbit through the tenuous top of the atmosphere will be unique among Mars missions," said Jakosky. "We'll get a new perspective on the planet and the history of the Martian climate, liquid water and planetary habitability by microbes."

Scientists hope that Maven can provide another piece of the puzzle that is the history of Mars. For years now, researchers have been trying to figure out if Mars was ever had water flowing on its surface, if it was able to support life and what happened to its atmosphere.

To explore Mars, NASA has other orbiters and has had three robotic rovers, including the super rover Curiosity, and Opportunity, which has been working on Mars for more than 10 years. The robots have been searching for clues to Mars' history on the surface and have found evidence of ancient water flows.

MAVEN, NASA's first spacecraft with a sole goal of studying the Martian atmosphere, will set its sights on scientific research above the planet. How much gas from Mars' atmosphere has been lost to space throughout the planet's history? What drove that loss?

NASA engineers will be uploading software updates - over millions of miles - to provide information needed by the craft to manage its location, velocity and orientation so it can insert itself, without human intervention, into Mars orbit. The entire insertion will be guided by MAVEN's onboard computers.

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NASA craft closes in on its target -- Mars

UT Arlington research uses nanotechnology to help cool electrons with no external sources

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

10-Sep-2014

Contact: Herb Booth hbooth@uta.edu 817-272-7075 University of Texas at Arlington @utarlington

A team of researchers has discovered a way to cool electrons to 228 C without external means and at room temperature, an advancement that could enable electronic devices to function with very little energy.

The process involves passing electrons through a quantum well to cool them and keep them from heating.

The team details its research in "Energy-filtered cold electron transport at room temperature," which is published in Nature Communications on Wednesday, Sept. 10.

"We are the first to effectively cool electrons at room temperature. Researchers have done electron cooling before, but only when the entire device is immersed into an extremely cold cooling bath," said Seong Jin Koh, an associate professor at UT Arlington in the Materials Science & Engineering Department, who has led the research. "Obtaining cold electrons at room temperature has enormous technical benefits. For example, the requirement of using liquid helium or liquid nitrogen for cooling electrons in various electron systems can be lifted."

Electrons are thermally excited even at room temperature, which is a natural phenomenon. If that electron excitation could be suppressed, then the temperature of those electrons could be effectively lowered without external cooling, Koh said.

The team used a nanoscale structure which consists of a sequential array of a source electrode, a quantum well, a tunneling barrier, a quantum dot, another tunneling barrier, and a drain electrode to suppress electron excitation and to make electrons cold.

Cold electrons promise a new type of transistor that can operate at extremely low-energy consumption. "Implementing our findings to fabricating energy-efficient transistors is currently under way," Koh added.

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UT Arlington research uses nanotechnology to help cool electrons with no external sources

NTU team invents more efficient water-filtering membrane

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Audrey Tan

The Straits Times

Publication Date : 11-09-2014

Filtering impurities and bacteria from waste water often requires the use of polymer or ceramic membranes - but these often come at a high cost and require frequent cleaning with expensive chemicals.

Now, a team from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore has come up with a self-cleaning membrane that is more cost-efficient.

Announced at a media briefing on Thursday, this membrane is made from a patented titanium dioxide nanotechnology - the brainchild of Assoc Prof Darren Sun, from NTU's School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

"With more of the world's population moving into urban cities and generating more waste water, there is a real need for cost-effective technology," Prof Sun said.

Polymer membranes, for instance, need to be replaced every two or three years, but the NTU-made membrane is expected to last twice as long.

The nano particles in the membrane also react to sunlight, helping them clean off the debris collected without the need for washing with chemicals like sodium hydroxide.

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NTU team invents more efficient water-filtering membrane

Chamber sets out its campaign for business

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The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce has launched its Campaign for Business 2015, which sets out its priorities ahead of next years general election.

The campaign covers five key issues, including devolution, along with infrastructure, skills and employment, finance and taxation and trade. It has been generated based on discussions with businesses in the region over the past year. The Chamber is calling for:

Craig Dean, chief executive of Web Applications UK and Oldham Local President at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said: A trawl through statements made by our policy-makers demonstrates a complete lack of understanding about the subtleties around internet connectivity.

It seems impossible to have vital discussions about improving our digital infrastructure when few understand the difference between 2Mb and 200Mbit, never mind the importance of upload speeds to companies trading over the internet.

This leads to an overly cosy relationship between regulators and the ISP industry and needs to be addressed urgently. There are huge factors affecting our future ability to compete in the digital age, from net neutrality, to the importance of fibre to the premise versus fibre to the cabinet.

Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, director of policy and campaigns Chris Fletcher said: By using the opportunity for meaningful engagement with members at our events, especially the local Action for Business networking events, linking with the Chambers Policy & Campaign Committee and Chamber Council, we have managed to refine a huge range of issues and ideas detailed under our five campaign themes.

Some started as issues raised by individuals, others have been included as a direct response to major policy initiatives. All, though, at their heart have the interests of businesses as their origin.

This will be my third General Election at the Chamber and I can say two things with certainty this is the most accurate and comprehensive business campaign document we have produced and this will be the first campaign where our activity will be predominantly produced and delivered digitally.

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Chamber sets out its campaign for business